Welcome to another Wedding Wednesday! Today I’d love to introduce current and future brides to what I like to call the Rain Check Session.
Brides, I HIGHLY suggest you ask your photographer if they offer a Rain Check Session… It’s not something I do often – in fact, I’ve been fortunate to only have to do it twice so far in my career – but when you need it, you need it!
A Rain Check Session is a portrait session just for the Bride & Groom at a later date after their wedding. If it rained on your wedding day and in any way messed up the Bride & Groom portrait time then a Rain Check Session is an option.
My first Rain Check Session was for a couple who’s Bride & Groom portrait time was limited due to the ground being to wet. It was a beautiful May Saturday leading up until RIGHT after the ceremony…. and I mean like 10 minutes after the ceremony there came a downpour! It didn’t last long but we were only able to do a few poses for the Bride & Groom’s portraits. Thankfully, we had already done all the wedding party and family portraits and yes, those are important, but not as important in my opinion.
My second Rain Check actually just took place this evening! Jamia & Cory’s early June wedding started off with a steady rain all day that finally stopped an hour before the ceremony started. We only had time to do their first look before the ceremony but had to save the wedding party and family portraits for between the ceremony and the reception. Before the ceremony, I discussed our options with Jamia & Cory and was thrilled when they opted for a Rain Check Session. And it definitely was!
A Rain Check does require the Bride to get back into her gown and, if she so chooses, to get her hair and makeup done again. It’s also the choice of the couple to either rent the Groom’s tux again for the session but if he has a nice suit, that will work just fine. The session does not need to take place at the wedding venue but it definitely can! We can wait for a evening right after your honeymoon, a month later, or even a few months later! We don’t want to wait too long after the wedding… it should be during the same season.
Why should you hire a photographer that includes a Rain Check Session? Because weather isn’t something that any of us have control over and therefore, shouldn’t be something you should worry about. True, other parts of the day cannot be done over and because of that, you should always have a Plan B (a blog post on that is coming soon!). The Rain Check Session is the Plan B for the Bride & Groom portraits!